Chapter 48 - Bloodline and Steel
The ballroom exploded into chaos. Screams echoed as guests scattered in terror.
Jason lunged at me, the ceramic blade glinting beneath the crystal chandeliers, his eyes wide with unhinged desperation. "You ruined me, Francesca! You took everything from me!"
I didn't cower. Fueled by the primal instinct to protect the life growing inside me, I grabbed a heavy silver ice bucket from an adjacent banquet table and swung it with all the force of my body, striking Jason across the arm. The impact deflected his strike, the blade tearing through the fabric of my emerald gown without piercing my skin.
Before Jason could recover, Julian arrived like a tempest.
With a roar that shook the grand salon, Julian tackled Jason to the floor, driving him into the marble with devastating force. The knife skittered across the floor, coming to a halt beneath the feet of the security guards who were swarming in from all directions.
Julian pinned Jason down, his forearm pressed hard against Jason’s throat. Jason choked, his dyed hair disheveled, gasping for air as Julian’s eyes burned with homicidal fury.
"Did you really think," Julian snarled, his voice vibrating with absolute authority, "that you could touch my wife and survive?"
"She was mine first!" Jason sputtered, blood dripping from his split lip, his eyes wild and pathetic. "She was nobody until I married her!"
"She was everything you could never be," Julian countered coldly. He did not deliver the fatal blow; instead, he stepped back, allowing four massive security operatives to wrench Jason to his knees, twisting his arms behind his back in iron grips.
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Julian turned to me instantly, pulling me into his arms, inspecting every inch of my body with frantic concern. "Francesca! Are you hurt? The baby—are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Julian," I panted, clutching his lapels, burying my face against his chest as the adrenaline crashed over me in waves. "We're both fine. He didn't touch me."
